Serial Metal Thief Arrested For Stealing Aluminum Panels

Peter Gallant, 46, is charged with felony theft for a series of metal thefts in the southwestern suburbs. (Credit: Cook County Sheriff's Police)

BRIDGEVIEW, Ill. (CBS) — A 46-year-old man who sold 22 identical aluminum panels to a scrap metal yard in Alsip has been charged with a series of metal thefts in the southwestern suburbs.

Peter Gallant, of the 7700 block of West 87th Street in Bridgeview, has been charged with felony theft. He was ordered held on $35,000 bond Friday at a hearing at the Bridgeview courthouse.

Cook County Sheriff’s police said they began investigating a series of metal thefts on March 22, after a business on the 17100 block of South Wolf Road in unincorporated Orland Township reported the theft of $200,000 worth of aluminum panels and other accessories used in building foundations.

Detectives learned Gallant had sold 22 identical aluminum panels to a business in Alsip for $1,000. He was arrested on Thursday and police said he admitted to the theft and sale of aluminum.

He is also suspected of thefts in Orland Park and Willow Springs.

Additional charges have been filed by Willow Springs Police, according to the sheriff’s office. Orland Park police were also considering charges.

Police asked anyone who might have had contact with Gallant recently, or any scrap yards that might have purchased large amounts of alumimum panels recently, to call sheriff’s police at 708-865-4896.